SUPERSTITIOUS residents are proving reluctant to move into flats with the number ‘13’ - so now the council is to re-number many of its sheltered housing units to stave off some of the ‘bad luck’.

A sharp-eyed Charnwood Borough Council officer revealed that flats and bedsits sporting the “unlucky” number were more difficult to let out during a meeting of the project board, which manages the council’s sheltered units.

Sheltered housing is maintained for elderly, disabled and vulnerable people to enable them to retain an independent lifestyle but those flats and bedsits that were numbered ‘13’ are far more difficult to let out, with one of them being empty since December 2014.

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The renumbering will see all vacant ‘13’ properties become ‘12A’, but those already occupied will remain the same.

Coun Paul Mercer, who is responsible for private sector housing on the Cabinet and sits on the board, welcomed the discovery.

He said: “Although I am not superstitious myself and always make a point of walking underneath ladders, I do understand that many people associate the number ‘13’ with bad luck and clearly this is the reason for this reluctance to move into these units.

“We are determined to address the problem of empty units and to make our sheltered accommodation as efficient as possible and this realisation by one of our senior officers should help bring some of these units back into use.”

Do you have any superstitions? Contact Zoe Higgins on 01509 635809 or zoe.higgins@trinitymirror.com